


DS9 Atmospheres/Vibes

by excessiveprepositionalphrases



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Gen, Meditation, atmosphere, not really a fic, sort of a guided meditation?, vibes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:22:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22840123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/excessiveprepositionalphrases/pseuds/excessiveprepositionalphrases
Summary: Not so much a fic as a collection of imagines/atmospheres/vibes/ visualization exercises/sort of guided meditations I suppose? These paragraphs are intended as an anti-anxiety tool in the vein of my tumblr post Ambient Tracks for your Anxiety, which can be found at https://sigynpenniman.tumblr.com/post/190244186839/ambient-tracks-for-your-anxiety-a-quick-guide-to . I have fairly clear images of most of these places in my mind, so I figured I would write them out. Different parts of the station are listed as chapters, go to chapter index to pick your favorite locale. (And if you're just here for the infirmary, which I know a lot of you are, it's chapter 2.) Note: I have marked this as complete, but if you'd like a paragraph written for an area I didn't cover, please request in the comments and I'll be happy to add it!
Comments: 9
Kudos: 12





	1. OPS

You are seated at a sensor console, on the outer ring of ops. The chair beneath you is comfortable, but firm. You are sitting up very straight, at comfortable attention. The console in front of you is displaying sensor information from all around the station. There are a few freighters passing in and out of the wormhole. You are watching them carefully as they pass by. There is another console, this one watching for ionic weather phenomena, behind you. It is being quietly attended by a young ensign with whom you are not well acquainted, but he is always kind to you when you speak to him. You can see the captain in his office from where you are seated. He is studying a series of PADDs. He looks intent, but calm. There are other ensigns, most of whom you are pleasantly acquainted with, attending the consoles around the outer ring of the space. Major Kira is standing in the middle of room, studying navigational charts on the center console. She, too, is intent, but calm. The air is pleasantly warm, warmed by the heat emitted from the assorted computers and engineering ports and panels around the room. The space smells clean but ever so slightly musty, as the smell that accompanied the age and state of disrepair of the station when it was claimed from the Cardassians is something that no one has ever quite been able to get rid of. You have a mug of hot tea sitting in front of you. It is still steaming, fresh from the replicator. It smells warm and earthy. You lift the mug. It is warm in your hands. You take a slow sip of the tea. It is a familiar taste, and grounds you to this spot. You close your eyes. Around you, you can hear the sounds of the room. There is a consistent, low beeping, as one of the consoles tracks a power reserve. Just above this, you can hear the random and assorted beeps of the people in the room interacting with their consoles and PADDs. Kira is mumbling to herself, and everyone’s breathing is barely audible. All the sounds are laid under with the constant rumble of the station’s power, providing a constant, cozy, white noise. You take another sip of your tea as you notice another freighter coming through the wormhole.


	2. Infirmary

You are lying on your back on a biobed in the infirmary. The bed has a very slight incline, and the fabric of the bed is soft underneath you. You are wearing pajamas. You have a thin, flannel-type blanket over you and a pillow under your head. You are not ill. You were simply feeling very tired, and this was an easy, and comfortable, place to sleep. The ceiling above you is pale grey, and dimly lit. The lights directly above you have been dimmed to make it easier for you to sleep. The room is cool, pleasantly so, but almost cold. Your blanket and pajamas are warm and cozy against the cool, crisp air. The air smells clean and sharp, with hints of antiseptic in it. You inhale deeply, and your sinuses are filled with the clean air. To your left and right are grey walls, with a few small monitor panels embedded in them. There is a dark haired nurse quietly checking one of the panels. She is humming a piece of classic music very quietly. You do not know her well, but she is generally kind. Directly ahead of you is the rest of the infirmary, which is brightly lit and empty except for its staff. Nurse Jabara is studying a console on the far wall. The expression on her face is one of puzzlement and curiosity. Dr. Bashir is seated at another console, carefully running some sort of analysis. He, too, looks slightly puzzled. This is the standard expression for both of these people. He glances up at you, very briefly, just to check on you, and returns to his analysis, content that you are okay. The clean air is complimented by the sounds of the space. The consoles everyone is working at click and beep in varied ways as they are used. The sounds of the promenade are just barely audible in the distance. They are not loud enough to be distracting, but just enough to be a constant reminder of the presence of other beings on the station. The station’s low, constant rumble drowns out most other background noises. You have no immediate or pressing responsibilities and are free to lie here without being anxious of the time. You close your eyes again and allow yourself to drift back into sleep.


	3. Odo's Security Office

You are seated, cross legged, on the carpeted floor of Odo’s office. All around you are yellowed papers covered in Bajoran writing. They are copies of ancient reports on crime and criminal activity on Bajor in a time before electronic records were common. Odo has asked you to sort through these records, as they are relevant to an investigation he is working on. Odo keeps his office far too cold, as he has no sense of temperature and is usually alone in his office. Because of the cold, you are wearing a jacket over your uniform. Your hands, still, are cold, and your fingertips are going slightly numb. You are reading through a document about a man who was arrested several hundred years ago for stealing large quantities of food. The aged paper is smooth in your fingers. The security office normally has no smell of its own, but the antique documents smell musty, and aged, and slightly floral. You have a mug of raktajino in front of you, in the middle of the piles of documents. It smells like warm coffee. You are seated in the front left corner of the room. Odo is seated behind his desk in front of you, reading the criminal activity reports and mumbling slightly to himself as he does. The warm grey walls behind him have several computer panels inset in them. Each screen is displaying a live activity feed from a console somewhere on the station. Odo likes to keep one eye on the activities that are going on everywhere. This is one of the quietest places on the station. Even the ever-present beeping is barely audible here. Odo likes his quiet and protects it. You shuffle to the next document, and the papers swish. You lift your mug of raktajino and take a warm sip. It thunks softly on the floor as you place it back among the papers. This is a slow, quiet day, and you cherish it.


	4. Quark's Bar

You are seated on a backless stool at the bar in Quark’s. You have the heels of your boots hooked into a rung on the stool and your elbows on the bar. Everywhere there is commotion. In front of you is a Modela aperitif. It's yellow and pale blue and it smells like a fruit you can’t place, somewhere between strawberry and raspberry. It’s always a little too warm in Quark’s. The temperature control systems do their best, but the number of people in the room means that no matter how hard they work, it’s never quite enough. To your right sits Morn. He will not stop talking to an unfortunate ensign who happened to sit next to him. The stool to your left is unoccupied, and you hope it will stay that way. Behind you, people are crowded around the dabo tables. One of the girls yells Dabo every few minutes, and you quietly hope that whoever keeps winning deserves it. The cheers of joy mingle with dozens of conversations. The dozens of people in the bar cast shadows in the lights of the bar, and the shifting effect in the lights makes the hundreds of glass bottles on the wall behind the bar appear to sparkle. You take in the room. Almost all the tables on the first floor are occupied, filled with station officers drinking, talking, and enjoying themselves. The tables on the second floor are mostly empty, except some couples speaking closely to each other. The couples are all sitting at tables far apart, as if each has carefully gotten as far away from everyone else as they can. The stool you are perched on is ever so slightly too small, like every bar stool you’ve ever known. You can see, if you glance, Odo, hovering in the corner. He is watching Quark as he bustles about behind the bar. Neither says a word but they watch each other closely, in a familiar dance of distrust.


End file.
